Closer (and other drabbles and oneshots)
by withfireandblood
Summary: "I thought it was mine." new oneshot takes place after episode 4x20. Klaus gets some shocking news. Caroline discovers she might not have moved on as much as she thought.
1. Closer

**Closer**

**This is just a little one shot based on the clips involving Caroline from the season four promo. (Caroline and Tyler-Klaus in the woods / Caroline and Rebekah in the van) Plenty of Klaroline Smut.**

* * *

Klaus carefully added the finishing touch to the sketch, then set the paper down on the table in front of him. He looked down at his hands, smudged with charcoal, but at least they were his own.

It had been a week since he's gotten himself back. Tyler had found his way back into his own body as well. He wanted to wipe the smile of that smug new hybrid's face when he left that day. Probably to go see Caroline. He couldn't bear the thought of the two of them together. He had been so close to having it, having her that day in the woods, but something stopped him.

* * *

No one was supposed to know he was alive. No one could know Tyler was alive either. It wasn't safe. But he had to hunt and with rumors of new vampire hunters in town he stuck to the woods.

She was there, doing some hunting of her own. Still on Stefan Salvatore's pathetic bunny diet. He should have darted away, but the chance to see her again was too alluring. He paused, watching her. then he was caught.

"Tyler!" She was running towards him.

He froze.

"How are you alive? What's going on?" She said.

He searched for words but couldn't find them. She was looking at him like he was a miracle. Her hands captured either side of his face and pulled him in for a kiss.

He had tried not to kiss back. He really did. But how could he help it, when she was pulling him close like that? He gave himself a minute. Just one minute, then he would break away. How much could it hurt just to let himself have one minute of her kissing him like that?

He felt the warmth of her lips humming against him. She pulled him closer when he traced his tongue along her lower lip, causing her to open her mouth ever so slightly, her tongue meeting his, every nerve ending set on fire. He would stop now. Just two more seconds. That's all.

He heard the leaves crunch under his feet as he walked her until she was pressed against a tree. His hips pinned hers in place and his hands wandered along her sides, grazing against the softest skin, touching the fabric of her outfit, his fingers bunching up in it, ready to tear it off.

Her leg hooked around him and he could feel the heat of her core pressed against him. She was moving against him, making every thought expect her disappear from his mind. He could feel himself growing hard from the friction she was causing and as she continued to kiss him he wondered if she was doing it on purpose.

He gripped on to her, never wanting her to stop, and then she paused, and without thinking he pushed against her, trying to continue the motion she had been doing. She smiled. She had the audacity to smile at him, giving him a look that said she knew exactly what she was doing and she had him where she wanted him.

His mouth opened in delighted surprise. She wasn't some insecure teenager awkwardly going through the motions. She was in her element and she was looking straight at him.

She playfully shoved him, getting him to move a few steps back. She walked forward to meet him, peeling her shirt off, still smiling, looking right at him.

He didn't try to hide that he was looking her up and down. If she knew exactly what she was doing, he would let her see it was working. He would have kept staring if she hand't kissed him again. How wrong could it be to let it continue?

Her hand was fumbling with the button of his jeans, he felt a pop as she ripped it off and pulled down the zipper. A finger hooked around the waistband, tugging it down, her hands were sliding a bit lower and every fiber of his being was fighting against him doing what he knew he needed to do.

He took a step back.

"Wait. Stop." He said, his eyes still closed. He didn't want to see her reaction.

"Tyler? Are you ok?" She asked.

He looked at her, sad and hoping she wouldn't be to angry he let it go on as long as he did.

She wrinkled her brow looking back at him. There was something familiar about that intense gaze but it wasn't reminding her of Tyler.

"Oh god." she whispered, horrified.

"I..." He started.

"Klaus." she breathed.

He nodded.

She shoved him, hard. "How could you! You're so twisted!"

"I was going to stop you right away and explain. I just got caught up in the moment."

"Caught up in the moment? That wasn't meant for you!" She smacked him again. "I thought I was kissing my boyfriend!" Her face changed from angry to frightened when she mentioned Tyler. "You killed him?"

"No!" He insisted. "He's fine. Bonnie is helping us get sorted. We just need another day before I can be back in my own body. I'm jut borrowing this one."

"You're just borrowing Tyler's body? Just borrowing it, following me around, making me think you were him, you were about to... We almost..."

"I stopped it." He said, trying to remain calm when she was hurling her fury at him. "I wouldn't do that. Not to you."

"You didn't seem to have a problem kissing me."

"I should have stopped that sooner. I'm sorry, I just couldn't help it." He gave her a week smile that made her even angrier.

"Well I can't help this." She kicked him hard in the shin. "Or this!" She punched him in the stomach.

He grabbed her by the shoulders and held her far enough away that she couldn't hit him again. "Caroline. Stop."

"You stop." She retorted, not caring how childish she sounded.

"I said I was sorry! You know how I feel about you, it was near impossible to break away even when I did."

She glared at him. "I know how you say you feel. You don't expect me to actually believe it, do you? I know this is all a game."

"I promise you, it's not." He said.

She felt a shiver run through her body when he said it. Something in his eyes made her believe it, but as soon as she did, she started talking herself out of trusting him. It was just because he was saying it through Tyler's body. It was Tyler's eyes she trusted, not the man pulling the strings behind them. She didn't feel a shiver when he looked at her because she felt anything for him. It was just because her shirt was off and there was a breeze out here. That was it.

She grabbed her shirt and stormed away from him, never looking back.

* * *

Caroline was chasing Tyler down the front steps of her house. He was storming back to his car, unable to look at her.

"Stop it! You're making a big deal over nothing!" She shouted.

"No. You kept it. Even after what you told me about last week, when you thought he was me? How could you keep it?"

"Tyler, it's just a nice picture. That's all."

"You can't expect me to believe it's just a picture. It's a reminder of him. You pretend not to like how he chases after you, how he tricked you into kissing him when he was in my body last week, but you must. Otherwise you wouldn't have his drawing sitting out on your bedside table."

"Why can't you let this go? I already told you nothing's going on!"

He shook his head at her, more sad than angry. "I spent months breaking every bone in my body over and over again. For you. So I could be with you, and not be controlled by him. He made me bite you and I went through months of agony for you. You know how I feel about him, he's the reason we're going through all this, and yet you won't throw out one stupid picture. You won't do that one thing for me. After everything I've done for you."

Caroline just looked at him. He made perfect sense, but she couldn't bring herself to agree to it.

Tyler nodded, seeming to take her silence as the final straw. "You know what. That's fine. We're done."

She just watched him walk away. Caroline wondered why she wasn't crying. She felt like she should be, but nothing was happening, she just felt numb.

He looked back at her, surprised she didn't protest. "You're not going to even try to stop me? I fought for us, Care. Why didn't you?"

He was gone.

* * *

Caroline went on with her life, going through all the motions of each day. She as upset, but it was nothing compared to what she thought she should be feeling. She kept waiting for the big sobbing breakdown that never came. Elena and Bonnie were both busy with other stuff, not able to be bothered with their friend's recent Breakup when Vampire transitions and complex spells were taking all their time and energy.

She decided to go to the corner store and grab a pint of Ben and Jerrys. She's go home and eat it in her sweatpants and watch a sad movie. that's what you were supposed to do in situations like this, right?

Of course Rebekah was there, flirting with some guy in the parking lot. Caroline tried to ignore her, but Rebekah marched right up to her and said something snide about Tyler. Caroline glared at her and was about to retort when she noticed the guy Rebecca was talking to was walking over to them, unscrewing a water bottle. The smell of vervain filled the air.

Her skin burned as it splashed in her face, making her crouch down and hold her face where the skin melted away like she was hit with acid. She saw Rebekah stumble on the ground next to her, looking terrified. She turned around to see a large man holding a pipe.

He swung and she felt her skull crack as it connected.

Everything went black.

* * *

Klaus scrubbed the charcoal off his hands in the kitchen sink and considered going out to find someone to drink. His phone buzzed in his back pocket, so he dried off his hands and checked the screen. Rebekah.

"Yes, Reb-"

"Nik! Help! We're in this van. It crashed near the bridge. They're hunters, Nik!"

He was already running out of the house, still on the phone.

"Who's we?"

"Caroline. They got both of us. Oh, no. I think he's waking up." Rebekah sputtered out, then the line went dead.

He ran faster.

There were two hunters he had never seen before. Caroline and Rebekah were each struggling with one of them. He could see them shouting at each other, working together. Caroline threw a jagged piece of metal over to Rebekah, who stabbed her attacker in the gut with it. Rebekah took a step back and reached over to help Caroline before getting knocked over again. The hit hadn't taken out her attacker. They were more than just human. They had something else.

He was close enough to help now. The men had their backs to him, they didn't know he was there. Caroline couldn't see him, the hunter she was struggling with blocked his view. Rebekah noticed him and smiled, before stabbing her attacker again.

He had a choice to make. Both of them were staying strong, neither in immediate danger, but they both needed his help.

His hand plunged through the back of the man's ribs, ripping his heart out and long with his spine. It killed him instantly. He dropped the heart with a thud and shook the blood off his hand.

Caroline turned around, startled by the scream that came from the attacker who was choking her and had suddenly let go. He was gone. Klaus was standing in front of her, the only thing between them was the body of the man he had just killed for her. She felt safe.

He looked at her, and she looked back, confused, relieved, startled. He started to reach out to her, to try and assure her that she was safe.

"Nik!" Rebekah shouted, annoyed.

He snapped back into reality and lunged at the man, holding him down so Rebekah could rip his heart out herself.

Once the hunter was dead, she flung the heart at Klaus, who swatted it away.

"Some brother you are! I can't believe you went to her first!"

"You've got a thousand years on her, Becca, somehow I thought you could manage for a few more seconds."

"Hmmpft." She huffed.

"We need to get out of here. They think I'm dead." He said.

Rebekah nodded and blurred towards the woods, making her way back to their house.

He looked back at Caroline, shaken and covered in blood.

"Well sweetheart? You coming with us?"

She didn't have time to think of why or why not. She just grabbed his arm and ran with him.

* * *

Caroline couldn't believe she was taking a shower at the Original's house. It was so bizarre. Rebekah was actually being nice, giving her a towel and an outfit to change into. They had insisted on her staying with them for the night, giving them some time to assess if there were more hunters before letting her go back home. She had begrudgingly agreed. All her friends were so busy dealing with other things, at least here she wouldn't be alone. And if anyone could protect her from hunters, it was the Originals.

She toweled off her hair and pulled on the outfit. She padded down the hallway, walking towards the sound of voices.

Rebekah was sitting on the arm of the couch, gesturing wildly and almost spilling her drink as she recounted their attack to her brother. Klaus was right in the middle of the same couch, nodding and smiling along with her story. He saw Caroline standing in the hall and motioned for her to come in.

"Please, sit down love." He patted the space next to him. "We've already poured you a drink."

She hesitantly sat next to him, making sure to leave plenty of space, and she picked up the glass set in front of her, and swirled the amber liquid around before taking a gulp, drinking down as much as she could possibly get in one mouthful.

"Easy there." Klaus laughed. "That drink's older than you. You're supposed to sip it, not shoot it."

"After the day I've had?" Caroline retorted.

"Fair enough." He laughed. "My sister was just telling me you two make quite a team."

"It's true." Rebekah smiled. "You've got much faster reflexes than Damon. You're not so bad for a baby vamp on a bunny diet."

"Well I prefer blood bags whenever possible. Don't tell Stefan." Caroline smiled.

"Oh, the ripper couldn't possibly be one to judge." Klaus smiled.

"I'm sure he'd have something to say about me being here with the two of you. That is, If he took a second from hovering around Elena to even notice the other people in the world." Caroline said.

Klaus shot Rebekah an annoyed look.

"I said I was sorry! I thought you were dead! How was I to know you'd come back from the grave looking for more doppleganger blood."

Klaus waved away his sister's apology and took another sip. "I'm sure Stefan isn't the only one who would be upset to hear you're spending the night at our house."

Caroline looked confused "Damon wouldn't like it, but he's not really one to judge, and again the whole Elena thing..."

"I was referring to your little boyfriend." Klaus said.

Rebekah choked on her drink. "Oh this is going to be good."

"What?" Klaus asked.

"You didn't hear?" Rebekah smiled.

"Hear what?"

"Oh, I was at the grill the other day, I saw him come in, all distraught. He and Matt had quite a detailed talk about it."

"About what?"

Rebekah turned to Caroline "Are you going to tell him, or should I?"

"Tyler and I broke up. He broke up with me."

Klaus tried to keep his face free from emotion. He didn't like the pained expression on her face, but he wanted to smile from ear to ear. This meant he was just a little closer to possibly having her.

"Would you like me to kill him for you?" He offered, completely sincere.

"What? No!" Caroline said. "Leave him alone, this isn't his fault."

"I don't see how it could possibly be your fault. You're an angel. He's just... common."

Rebekah snorted. "Right, an angel. God Nik, I've spent most of the last century in a box, and even I think that line's stale."

"Rebekah, you can either contribute to the conversation or leave." He said.

"Fine. Caroline, do you want to tell him, or should I?"

"Rebekah, please." Caroline said.

"I heard the whole thing." She smiled.

"This is so embarrassing." Caroline grumbled and reached for her drink, finishing the rest in one sip.

Klaus was watching her intently, eager to hear what had her so riled up.

"Ok. Tyler and I broke up because of that stupid picture you drew me. The one with the horse."

"I don't understand." Klaus said.

Rebekah snickered. "Oh it gets better."

Caroline shot her a look and continued. "The first time Tyler came back to town, he saw it in my room. He got really upset, assumed something had gone on between the two of us. It caused a big fight. After he got his body back, I told him about what happened, you and I, when I thought you were him."

Klaus nodded along smiling at the thought of that day.

"Is there more of that?" She motioned to her empty glass.

Rebekah reached over and handed the bottle to Klaus, who poured Caroline another drink and topped off his own. He handed the bottle back to Rebekah who filled her own cup and took a sip, waiting for Caroline to continue.

Caroline took another sip for courage before continuing. "Anyway, he kinda assumed that I threw out the picture after the first time we got in a fight over it, but last week he came over, and he saw it sitting on my bedside table and he flipped. He basically asked me to get rid of it or he was going to break up with me. I told him I wasn't going to get rid of it. So that was it. He asked me to choose between him and some stupid drawing from you and I picked the drawing."

He just looked at her. The intensity of it made her squirm and reach for the glass again. Maybe if she kept drinking she could get drunk enough to forget about all of this. His hand caught her wrist before she could reach the glass. She didn't pull away. He brought his other hand to her and held her hand between his.

"Why?" He asked.

Rebekah was backing away, taking the bottle with her. "That's my cue to leave, I think." She went back up to her room.

Caroline watched Rebekah leave. She could feel the warmth of his hand on hers. She was all alone with him.

"Why?" He asked again.

She tried to keep from looking at him, but she couldn't help it. And then she was lost in those eyes and she just kept babbling.

"I don't want to be with someone who gives me ultimatums like that. And I know he has every reason to be jealous and suspect, but I wanted to keep it. I like that picture. I like remembering that night. I wasn't going to let him make me throw it away."

"You'd pick a memory of a night with me over a relationship with him?"

"I didn't mean it like that. I just... I really like that drawing. Why can't I have what I want to have, you know?"

He smiled. "You have no idea how much I know."

"See, I'm trying to be serious, and you go right back to that."

"Right back to what, love?"

"The whole pretending to be really into me thing."

"I'm not pretending."

"I'm not the doppleganger. I'm not a witch. I'm just a new vampire. I don't have anything you need so I don't see the point in this."

"Caroline. Stop. Just for a moment, stop and think about what happened today. When I came to help you and Rebecca, who did I go to first?"

Her eyes softened as she realized the gravity of what had happened earlier that day.

"You helped me first. Why did you do that?"

"Because I fancy you. More than that, really. I care for you and I want to keep you safe."

"You should have helped her first. She's your family. You've spent a thousand years together."

"But I didn't. I picked you. I will always pick you."

"I'm never the one. I'm always second, an afterthought."

"You would never be second with me." He said, looking straight into her eyes again. His hands were still on hers. She had never felt so frightened before. She wanted to run from the room and hide. Not because she was afraid of him attacking her, but because she was afraid of what the consequences of letting her heart rule this decision could be.

She felt herself shaking all over. This was it, this was the once in a lifetime moment that changed and defined people. She could be the girl who was loyal to her friends, stuck by her convictions and stayed away from people like him who had hurt so many she loved. Or she could give in, follow her desires and let herself believe he was telling the truth.

He gently moved his hands from hers to rub her back and shoulders.

"You're shivering. Are you ok?" He asked, trying to warm her up.

His touch only made her shake more.

"Are you cold? Let's get you a blanket or something." He offered, pulling her up from the couch.

She let him lead her up the stairs. The room he stopped in must have been his. She cautiously sat on the foot of the bed while he dug through a closet looking for something. She watched him, slowly coming out of the shock she had put herself in, knowing exactly what she had decided to to. She had let the devil himself lead her up to his bedroom.

He was back, wrapping a blanket around her shoulders, pulling it snug around her. She seemed distracted, looking around the room.

"So this is where you sleep?"

"Yes. Ah, I haven't really had time to put much thought into decorating, so it's a bit simple."

"Not what I was expecting." She mused. He thought she was talking about the room.

"What were you expecting? A coffin filled with dirt?"

"Maybe more fire and brimstone. Gargoyles. The three brides of Dracula sprawled out on a fainting sofa over there." She pointed.

"So now I'm Dracula!" He laughed.

"No you're much older. Which makes you stealing all his wives even more pervy." She laughed.

He sat next to her on the bed, almost touching but not quite. She wasn't shaking anymore. She was enjoying the little dance they were going through. Each moment a step closer to the inevitable.

"Do you ever think about, if we met in some different way?" He asked hesitantly.

"I do." She nodded. "It would be so much easier."

"You make it look easy enough. You don't seem to have any trouble walking away from me."

She looked down and smiled. "It's not as easy as it looks."

"Really?"

She shrugged out of the blanket. "For example." She smiled and walked over to the opposite end of the room. "That wasn't as easy as it looked. It would be close to impossible if I didn't know what you were going to do next.

He saw the glint in her eyes. She was in. "And what am I going to do next, sweetheart?"

"Isn't it obvious?" She said. "You're going to chase me."

"I am?" He said, his eyes glowing.

"MmmHmm." She took a few more steps back and he felt himself getting up of the bed to go to her.

She let him get within two steps of her before darting across the room.

He followed again. She let him get close enough to feel his breath before darting across the room.

""Why do you keep doing that?"

"Because I know you'll try again. Isn't that our little game? I run away and you chase me."

"And why do you run away, love?"

"Because I know you'll follow. And I know you'll get close enough, but not too close. It'll always be my choice. Because I know each time I run, it isn't the last time. I know you'll be back. Each time it isn't me saying no, it's me saying not yet. But now..."

"Now?" He asked, inching closer to her, moving slowly so as not to spook her.

She looked him dead in the eye. "I want you to catch me."

He froze, stunned. "Are you saying?"

She nodded ever so slightly and tore out of the room, running down the stairs.

He watched her run, a smile slowly forming as he ran after her. She darted around tables, skidding a bit as she ran a circle around the island in the kitchen, she ran down another hallway, and jumped on a couch. She swung one leg up to climb over the back of it before he caught her around the waist and pulled her back down.

"Caught you" he whispered in her ear, his lips so close to her skin but not touching.

She leaned back against him and turned her head. She smiled and pulled herself closer, turning in his arms to face him. He looked into her eyes, then down at her lips and back up again. She looked back at him, watching him look at her. She had been so confident, so sure of herself only moments ago. She was leading the game, deciding where to make him follow, but now she didn't feel like she had control anymore.

"Caroline." He whispered.

It was a plea, begging permission.

She nodded slowly and his hand moved across the side of her face. He traced along her jawline and back again, letting his fingers weave through her hair. His other hand still around her waist, he lifted her off the couch and on the floor next to him. She looked up at him, wondering how she had let herself wait so long.

He moved a little closer, leaning down so his face was only inches from hers. He could feel her breath quicken, a sharp intake as he leaned into her. His hand in her hair pulled her closer until she grabbed on the collar of his shirt to keep her balance. His lips crashed down on hers. She pulled on his shirt, urging him closer.

There was so much warmth at that first contact, the heat of his mouth on hers, the urgent movements as they pushed closer to each other. He was holding tight on the back of her head, as if he was afraid she would try to break away. She felt her whole body flush with heat as he pulled her closer, his soft kisser turning rougher, more urgent.

There was a burning in her chest from lack of air but she didn't want to stop. It was only when he backed away that she allowed herself to breathe, chest heaving, trying to catch her breath.

He was looking at her with an intensity that made her wonder how she had ever convinced herself he was anything but sincere. She wouldn't let it shake her. She mustered every once of confidence left and put on her best show. He couldn't know how unworthy of that look she felt, how worried she was that she couldn't possibly live up to his expectations.

Breathe, Caroline. You're Miss Mystic Falls. You've got this. Just act confident.

She returned his gaze, looking up at him through heavy lids. She traced a finger down his arm, making little circles at the inside of his wrist. She leaned closer and kissed along his neck, watching his eyes flutter closed and his lips part. Perfect. She made her way closer to his ear and gently bit his earlobe, pulling lightly before whispering to him.

"So now that you've caught me, what are you planning on doing with me?"

He took it as a challenge, her words lighting a fire under him. He'd show her exactly what he wanted to do with her.

His hand pushed into her back until her chest was touching his and he leaned down to kiss her again. There as nothing soft or gently about this kiss. She would have stumbled back if his hand wasn't there to keep her close. He was pushing hard against her mouth, his tongue moving across her lips, into her mouth, dominating it. He wanted to consume her, absorb her, taste every inch.

His hands moved down her body, feeling her shape through layers of clothes. It wasn't enough. He had to get closer. One hand slipped under her shirt adn he moved it across the warm skin of her stomach, making her shiver and slide her hands up his arms, keeping her balance by holding on to him.

His hands moved up slowly, he was still kissing her, pulling on her lower lip, darting his tongue in a playful dance with her, pressing down hard on her mouth like he was staking a claim.

She gasped and arched her back when his hand ran over the cup of her bra, toying with the lace fabric. He loved the noises she was making but wanted more, so much more. His hands moved around her back, finding the clasp. She pulled her shirt over her head and flung it on the ground, breaking his concentration.

He stopped for a moment to appreciate the beauty of her, flushed, lips swollen. She knew it was him and she was here anyway. She was reaching towards the hem of his shirt and it was over his head and off. Her hands moved across his chest, searching, memorizing every detail.

With a pop he managed to unhook the bra and it fell away to the floor. His hands instantly moved forward to cup her newly exposed breasts, the incredible softness in his hands. She hummed with pleasure and he could feel her nipples hardening at his touch.

He moved back to sit on the couch, pulling her with him on his lap. He moved his hands down her legs, guiding her to straddle him on her knees, pushing her up by gripping on her ass until her chest was at his face.

With one hand gripping her ass and the other one pulling her hair away, he let his mouth meet her breast and kisses and nipped at it, making her moan and lean into him. His tongue found her nipple and flicked across it a few times before taking it into his mouth and sucking, grazing it with his teeth.

"Klaus." It was a breathy sigh that fell from her lips.

He pulled her closer to his lap and as she slid down she could feel his hardness rubbing against her. She moved across him, pushing her core closer, creating delicious friction that made his fingers push hard into her skin.

He needed more of her, and this wasn't the right place. Kissing up and down her exposed skin, he pulled himself off the couch, holding her with him, legs wrapped around his waist. She clung to him and kissed his jaw as he carried her up the stairs, down the hall, shutting a door behind them.

She didn't let go until he leaned forward, letting her drop on the soft mattress. She propped herself up on her elbows, looking up at him as he leaned down to kiss her once more before breaking away to slide her pants off. She kicked a bit to get them off quicker, then crawled to the edge where he stood, eager to see what she had only felt underneath her.

She pulled on the zipper and moved her hands to his sides. She found the elastic band of his underwear and pulled both down at once, freeing him from the last of his clothing. Her hand moved down his stomach until it was wrapped around his length. She kissed him as she pumped up and down with her hands and she felt him let out a low noise against her mouth, kissing her harder, his hand stroking her arm, encouraging her every movement.

His hands shifted across her, pausing again to play with her breasts, before moving to her lace boy shorts, the only fabric between them now. She gasped as his hand cupped under them, moving against her.

He moved away, making her lose contact with where she had ben touching him and he lowered himself down the bed, slowly pealing the lace fabric down her legs and off.

She had never felt so nervous to be naked in front of anyone before. But everyone else was a boy compared to him. He was a man and he had experienced the world for centuries, seeing every possible beauty that existed. Now he was looking at her like he wanted to consume her and the thought of it made her dizzy.

He made his way back up her body, kissing every spot he could, and she tensed up as she felt his fingers graze her. He toyed with her, watching her arch her back as he kissed along her knee, before plunging a finger into her.

She let out a cry and he smiled, glancing up at her. She felt herself blush as he smirked into her skin, making her fall apart more. He moved his kisses up and she felt his finger move away and his mouth replace it. His tongue moved against her most sensitive spot and she felt her body twitch as he continued his movements, her hands landing in his hair, she was calling out his name more times than she could count.

He stopped just as she was on the brink of exploding and pulled himself up to her. She felt her legs slide around his hips as the moved closer and when he kissed her again, it was soft and gentle.

His hand was behind one of her knees, ready, waiting on a sign from her. She smiled up at him and nodded. With that he pulled her a little closer, brought himself down to her, and filled her up completely.

She gasped a sharp intake of air at the feeling. Nothing had ever compared. He slowly, agonizingly, pulled out and in again, making her whimper. She gripped on to him hard, meeting each of his movements. His eyes were on her, watching, gaging her reactions to each move, learning how to make her cry out.

Her head was spinning, the world was fading away, nothing mattered except him, and the feeling he was creating in her, something slowly building that kept getting better and better.

He had shifted them so he was at a different angle and she let out a cry that made him flash her that evil smile as he did it again and again until she was sweating and shaking, holding on to him like she might fall off the side of the world if she let go.

"That's it, sweetheart, just let go." He whispered her ear, kissing down her neck as he continued hitting the spot that made her toes curl.

As she shouted out his name, she felt like something had burst within her, sending shooting waves of the most blissful feeling all over her body. It felt never ending, a blinding joy that only he could make her feel.

As she shook and pulsed around him, he pushed harder into her, letting out a groan as he found release, pulling her closer as he felt the mind erasing pleasure jolt through him.

He pressed his forehead to hers as the caught their breath. A fleeting thought ran through his mind, wondering if she would run away again. He kept his arms locked tight around her as they drifted off to sleep.

* * *

There's a odd feeling that comes with waking up somewhere new for the first time. Caroline felt something unusual before she even opened her eyes. the blankets around her felt different and there was an arm draped across her side, fingers splayed across her stomach.

Klaus. This was his room. He was sleeping next to her. They were still naked.

It all came back to her and she felt the instant impulse to run, to avoid the awkward morning after.

She twisted a wiggled around in the sheets trying to maneuver herself under his arm and out. She expected him to wake up at any instant, but he was still fast asleep. It was surprising that someone who had spent a thousand years avoiding constant attempts on his life could sleep so soundly.

Finally she managed to get off the bed, and scramble around the room for some clothes. She found her underwear and the jeans that Becca lent her, but there wasn't a shirt or bra anywhere.

The memory of flinging them off downstairs came back to her and she shook her head at her own impulsiveness.

She rummaged through a few drawers before finding one that had t-shirts and pulled on the first one she touched. She glanced back once more before tip towing out of the room, a little disappointed that he didn't wake up and try to stop her.

She made it downstairs before Becca spotted her from the kitchen, where she was eating breakfast.

"Hey Caroline!" She called. "Did those pajamas I left in the guest room fit you? I was thinking today we could -" She stopped, focusing on Caroline's outfit. "Why are you wearing Nik's shirt?"

Caroline opened her mouth, trying to find an answer, when Rebekah caught sight of something hanging off the side of the couch.

"Is that my shirt? Why did you leave it down here?"

Caroline bit her lip and gave her a guilty look.

"Oh, gross." Becca wrinkled her nose.

"I should really be going, worried sheriff mother and all that." Caroline said, moving quickly to the front of the house, snatching her bra off the floor on her way across, before bumping into someone.

He was leaning in the doorway, giving her a knowing smirk that told her he was probably awake the whole time she thought she had been quiet enough to slip away without him waking. Klaus was eying her frantic escape attempt and looking amused.

"I think you should stay."


	2. I know you're in love with me

** This oneshot is based on episode 4x13 "Into the Wild" It's Klaus's perspective on what happened and a continuation of what might happen next. Please review! And while I'm still busy with Prowl, I might be doing more drabbles and oneshots soon, so send me a P.M. if you have any requests.**

* * *

It was a sting of humiliation

"I know you're in love with me."

I didn't bother to deny it.

This wasn't how it was supposed to work.

He was in love with her. Or so he said. I simply fancied the girl. She was nothing but a brief flicker of entertainment.

I knew she might die. But he wouldn't let her. He was already so guilty, grief-stricken. From what may or may not have happened with the wolf girl, from the hybrids, from his mother. He was looking for redemption. He wanted to be her hero and put down the villain. Me.

So I took my shot. I hurt her. I dug a wooden spike into her stomach and skewered her, pulling her into my personal prison. And I bit down.

It was euphoric.

It's such a cliche that the girl you fancy has blood that tastes better than anything else. But it was true. Her blood was better. It was sugar and sunshine and everything I've ever pushed away for the sake of not being weak.

I can taste it now. It haunts me.

She's dying.

That mutt just shoved her at me, flung her on the floor like she was nothing.

_You deal with her._

He's a coward.

I hate that he was my first hybrid.

I hate him.

I hate the mother that smiled at him and welcomed him home. I hate the friends that stood by his side. I hate her friends, who she hasn't asked to contact. Probably because she knows they won't be too broken up over her death. They're a fickle bunch. My first hybrid is the worst of them. I wish I never found him. I hate that he had a father and an uncle. A father to love him and an uncle to help him through the transition of being a wolf. Even dead, they were better than anything I ever had.

I should hate her. I thought I did in that instant. She was yammering on again about my not being worth her time. Always the same, as long as someone's listening. You see, all that protesting and glaring melts away when no one's watching. If it's just me and her, she still fights me, but she's playful, smiling. I should hate her.

I don't.

I hate who she is around them.

I hate that it's who she wants to be. It's who she won't let go of.

She could be so much more with me. I would bring her the world. I would let her be everything she never thought she could be. I would cross oceans to see that smile again.

But she sneered at me and I made her bleed.

Because I can't take another second of it.

From now on, I'll be a monster to her. I hurt her. She'll never look at me the same.

Good.

She should run.

I'm going to kill every last one of them, and she should run.

I hope she runs.

If she stands her ground and tries to defend them, I don't know what I would do.

But now she's on the couch, shivering, ready to die, looking at me like daggers. And he just left her here.

I think perhaps he's on the porch, waiting.

But I can't hear a breath. Nothing.

He left her. Assuming I would fix it. Assuming I would care enough for her to do it. Not bothering to grovel or bargain or recant his threats. I expect her mother to come bursting in with promises or offerings of her own. With all her friends so far away, her mother is the only one left to beg for Caroline's life. If Tyler was too proud to do it himself, he could have sent the mother. But no one's coming for her.

And then something happened.

She said things to me, and I thought for a second, perhaps it's not all over.

""I know you're in love with me."

_She's playing you. She'll say anything to stay alive._

But I bite my wrist anyway and force it over her mouth.

Her fingers wrap around my wrist as my blood brings her back and it's everything I've ever wanted. In this one moment, she clings to me for life. She needs me. She is glad I'm there to save her, even if I'm the one who caused this.

And she sighs, she stops drinking. I wipe away tears I don't want her to see. And I pull her closer, her back against my chest. Somehow, she falls asleep, delirious in the healing process that chases the toxin from her veins.

I love her.

She said it and I didn't know it was true until that instant.

But I do.

And there's more.

He hasn't burst in yet to scoop her up and gloat over his victory.

He left her here with me on a chance that I would care.

I love her more. I love her more than he does, even though I'm the one who bit her, stabbed her through the stomach.

I'm selfish. Petty. Rage-driven.

But I'm older than him. Smarter. More patient. And there's something else.

I know I only made her smile a few times. But it was different. I know it was. I can make her happier.

Because I love her more.

I am the evil one. Pure evil. And somehow I'm the one who loves her the most.

* * *

Never fall asleep when someone's angry with you, unless you enjoy waking up to pain.

I find myself forgetting the rules I've outlined over the years.

I fell asleep, shifting our bodies on the couch. It's been a very long time since I've allowed myself to sleep next to someone else. The closest I've come this century would be collapsing next to a body I've recently drained. But she's asleep, still recovering from the bite I gave her, and she twists a little, fists balling up the fabric of my shirt. I wonder if she'll run away from me the minute she wakes, or if she'll stay to berate me.

But then I drift out.

My dreams are cloaked in the smell of her hair, the occasional whimpers and sighs she makes in her sleep.

"Tyler, put that down!" she shouts.

My eyes snap open.

She's on the other side of the house, past the border of what I can reach. Immediately, I feel regret. I should have stayed awake, I should have held on tighter. I could still carry on the charade if I could hold her hostage. Now he's got her back and I have nothing to bargain with.

"Tyler." she repeats. "Put. It. Down."

He's holding some kind of spring-loaded device stacked with vervain grenades. I roll my eyes and get off the couch, standing with my palms out. Go ahead, have at it.

"It's not going to kill him anyway." she hissed.

"No, but it'll hurt." he said, locking eyes with me.

"Did you not hear anything I just said? What did we just talk about? Did we learn nothing from this? Don't poke the dragon, Tyler."

"Care, I'm not really in the mood to be compassionate towards people that try to kill you."

"No but you're in the mood to leave me with them? Just banking on them feeling bad enough to save me?"

"It worked, didn't it?"

"What if it didn't? If I died, my last few hours would have been with him. Not you."

"But you didn't. I knew he wouldn't let you!"

"Oh really, you just knew. That's great, Ty. You just knew."

He looked down, ashamed.

"Now help me move this out of here." she said, motioning towards Kol's body, still rotting on the kitchen floor.

"You're serious? After what he did we should chuck it in there with him."

"Fine, I'll do it myself." she snipped, bending down to tuck the edges of the blanket around Kol's body.

Tyler tried to protest, but Caroline had already blurred away.

I leaned against the wall, staring down my former protégé. Hate radiated from both of us. I know he loathes me just as much as I do him.

"She's probably going to chuck him in a dumpster." Tyler smirked. "Just so you know."

"Why don't you run home to mommy. Oh wait..."

It feels good. My mother didn't love me and now his can't love him either.

"You know what, I don't need to be here. I'll go home as soon as she gets back. Caroline and I are going to go back to my big empty house. How ever will we pass the time?"

I chuckled. I was supposed to be jealous of Tyler, tormented by the thought of the two of them together? Two could play that game.

"You know, I still can't get the taste of her blood out of my mind. She's delicious, isn't she?"

Tyler just glared at me.

"Oh, that's right. You can't bite her without killing her. That's your wolf side. But the vampire side of you wants to. Especially when you two are _passing the time_, as you call it. And she wants it too. After all, she's all vampire. For her, blood sharing is sex, and sex without blood sharing... well, I'm sure you know she's never really sated."

"Shut up."

"I bet it's hard to hold back. Your fangs come out, and you want to bite down so much. I bet you even drag them across her skin, wishing you could press down. You know every time you do that, she must be thinking about how easily you could kill her with a bite. How she'd have to come to me and only me."

"Jealous much? Why don't you find someone else to creep on, you disgusting old man."

"I'd imagine you're the jealous one. After all, I can bite her and heal her. You can't."

"I don't want to bite her."

"Are you still pretending that you don't crave blood sharing every time you've been with her, since you've become a hybrid? Or with anyone, for that matter. I doubt that wolf girl was fond of it, wolves are more scratchers than biters in that department."

Tyler glared back at me, lips pressed tight. He was clenching every muscle to avoid shaking with anger. It felt fantastic to watch him like this. Feeling as cornered as I felt stuck in this horrible room.

"I think you knew I would heal her. And she thinks you left her alone with me so you wouldn't have to watch her die." I said. "But I know the real reason you weren't here. You couldn't stand the sight of it. Her, shifting in my lap, her lips on my skin, my blood coursing through her body. And if there was any doubt in your mind, the unmistakable smell of her arousal would have cleared that right up."

Tyler flung a wooden stake at me. As if that would do anything.

I caught it and threw it back.

Tyler ducked and it went crashing through the window behind him.

It escalated, each of us on opposite sides of the invisible barrier, flinging anything we could get our hands on.

"Stop."

Caroline was standing in the doorway, hair wet and smelling like she just stepped out of the shower.

"Tyler, step out of the house." she commanded.

He walked to the doorway, looking for her to follow. But she took a step closer to me instead. I watched with my full attention. What was she doing?

"Care?" Tyler asked.

"Someone has to clean this place up. And since you two can't be near each other without a war breaking out, looks like it's me."

"I'm not leaving you here alone with him."

"Why, because he might try to kill me again? Yeah, I got it. I'm not going anywhere near that side of the house again. But something needs to be done with this kitchen."

"I'll stay with you."

"No, Tyler."

"So you and him alone in here? Is that really a good idea?"

"Let's see, you and him alone in here ends in screaming, threats, and destruction of furniture and windows. You and me and him here ends with me getting stabbed and bitten by him." She paused to glare at me for a beat. "And dropped at his feet and left for dead by you. Meanwhile, somehow he and I get along when you're not here. So go, so I can get some stuff done."

I feel triumphant. Giddy almost, at how much this angers him. His pretty little girlfriend wants to stay here with me. She wants him to leave. How does it feel, Tyler?

"Caroline. Just leave the mess, it's fine."

"Go."

Tyler glanced over to me, trying to send a warning with a mediocre glare.

"He's fine. I'll stay far away from the border. Just go." she insists.

Tyler hesitated, then nodded.

"Fine. You want to be alone with him so much, fine." he spat out, glancing back and forth at the two of us.

"Tyler! It's not like that." she protested.

_But it will be, _I thought_. If there's any hope at all, it will be like that. _

He shook his head and walked out, slamming the door behind him like a child.

"How ever are we going to pass the time?" I asked Caroline, smiling innocently.

The mailbox went hurtling through the front window, flying just left of my face before it landed on the carpet.

I smirked as we watched Tyler storm away, pleased with myself for finding just the right comment to drive the boy mad when he was still in earshot.

"He has quite the temper, doesn't he?" I mused.

She padded around the kitchen in bare feet, gathering the mess, mostly just pretending to look busy and trying not to to look at me. She would glance over occasionally, lips tilted down ever so slightly. Disappointed.

I watched her, sitting on the other side of my cage, feeling things I shouldn't have allowed to register.

Guilt and shame.

I hurt her. I made a play with her life in the balance, knowing she could die because of my direct actions. I ignored the options Tyler presented, bargaining for her life. I let her leave, knowing she might not come back. That her stubbornness might mean she would choose death over looking at me again. She said she couldn't even look at me.

And the shame went deeper. She knew I loved her. It dug into my gut and chewed me up from the inside. It was the greatest embarrassment in over a thousand years. She knew. I loved her. I was pathetic. I saved her out of my own weakness. I endangered her out of my own selfishness. I hurt her because she said a few cutting words while standing too close and I saw an opportunity to use her to hurt Tyler. And I loved her.

"If I come over there, are you going to hurt me?" she asked quietly.

I looked up.

She was standing in the kitchen, holding two blood bags. She seemed nervous.

I shook my head, looking down. How could I look in her eyes, knowing she knew? It was worms in my chest. It was rotting despair.

"I drank a lot of vervain this morning." she warned.

"That must have been unpleasant."

"Not as bad as dying from a hybrid bite."

I sighed. "I'm not going to hurt you."

"You're not going to hurt me _again_." she said.

Right. Because just last night I drove a sharp object into her stomach and bit her. Bit hard and took a few deep gulps of her blood for good measure. I can still taste it. I think I'll always remember it.

She took a deep breath and walked across the room, settling down on the sofa. I carefully approached, aware that she tensed up a little as I drew closer, then I sat down next to her. Not touching, but close enough that she would have to be very aware of her movements if she didn't want to bump into me. It was a dirty trick. I knew she would be less affected by an actual touch than this near touch, this almost, this lingering tension of being almost there. But I had long ago stopped playing fair.

We drank our blood bags in silence. It was nothing compared to the taste of hers.

"You shouldn't be giving me this" I said, motioning to the bag she gave me. "Your friends will want me weak and starving when this spell wears off and I can get out of here."

"I'm not... You know I didn't know about this? The plan to kill Kol, or to trap you in here."

"I suppose I believe you. If you were part of it, they would have had an easier time luring me into a trap by using you as bait."

"Because you wouldn't suspect anything if it was me leading you into a trap?"

"Because I would go anyway."

Her breath caught. I tried to smile, but I knew it would look forced. No point in pretending otherwise. We both knew she was my weakness. Last night proved it.

"I'm a thousand years old, Caroline. I knew what you were doing all those times you distracted me from whatever your friends were doing to try to bring me down."

"I'm not going to do it again. Between Tyler and Elena, I'm always caught in the middle of someone's plan. they never work out without someone getting hurt. I don't want to be part of it anymore."

"I don't think you're going to have a choice."

"What they did to your brother was wrong. It wasn't necessary. And everyone that must have died with him... they didn't deserve to be killed for a war they didn't even know was going on."

It was the first time I'd heard her admit that maybe, just maybe, I'm not the only one doing wrong. I wouldn't come out and apologize for last night. She knew I was both sorry and not sorry. She understood me enough to know.

I breathed in and smelled her, floral shampoo and fruity body wash. I'm glad she showered after whatever she did with my brother's body. Otherwise she would carry hints of it with her, probably Tyler too. I'm sure at some point today he had touched her. Filthy disgusting little mutt.

"He's going to smell me on you." I said. I tried not to smirk. I really did.

"What?"

"Tyler. You told him you wouldn't come near me, but here you are."

"He's not going to smell-"

"It's a wolf thing. When I fed you my blood last night, I could smell him all over you."

"I guess he'll have to get over it." she shrugged.

"Caroline."

"I'm not ready to talk about last night. About what I said or about what we both know last night meant."

I nodded.

"And you can't kiss me."

I thought that went without saying. Why did she even feel the need to tell me that?

"Because if you do, I know I'll kiss you back. And I'll never forgive myself for it. Because I don't ever want to be the person who cheats and I can't just leave him. Not now. So you can't.

_Don't smirk. Don't smirk. Don't smirk. For once in your life, try not to be such a dick._

We sat in silence for a while. Why did she have to tell me not to kiss her? Now all I could think about was kissing her. I wondered if this was one of those games. That she was telling me not to because it was exactly what she wanted. But after much deliberation, I decided not to push my luck.

"What did you do with my brother?" I asked.

She pulled her phone out of her pocket.

"I thought you might want to see, so I took a picture."

I reached for the phone, fingers brushing against hers. Electric. Magnetic. Hands that had wrapped around my wrist as she drank my blood.

I looked at the picture on the phone.

It was a clearing in the woods, near where the old village was. I knew the place. I was human there. She must have known where it was to pick it. Elijah had told Elena. Perhaps the doppleganger passed on the knowledge.

There was a mound of fresh dirt among the grass. A smooth stone marked the place, and next to it sat a handful of wildflowers.

"You didn't have to do that." I said, swallowing a lump in my throat.

I pictured her, lugging around the charred body of what used to be Kol. Digging through dirt. Picking flowers. Finding a stone. All to give a proper burial to my brother. She didn't even like him. They had met in passing once or twice. He was nothing to her. Why would she go through the trouble for him?

"I know. I wanted to. He was your family." she said.

She didn't do it for Kol. She did it for me. She probably would have done the same if she got a chance yesterday before I attacked her. I didn't think it was possible to hate myself more. I loathe the person I am.

"I almost killed you last night."

"But you didn't. You chose to keep me alive."

"I drove a stake in your stomach. You spent hours in agony as I watched, refusing to end it."

"It's going to take me some time to get over that. But I don't want you to think I'll never be over it. And those things I said right before, that's not how I really feel. It's just all so complicated."

"You're here, though."

"I'm here."

I looked at the picture again.

"When I get out of here, It's going to start. You should get as far away as possible."

"They're my friends."

"And this was my family. This is my survival."

"I can't just..."

"I'm not asking you to betray them or help me. I'm just asking you to stay away from it."

"I'm not sure if I can promise that." she said.

"I'll tell Elijah and Rebekah about what you did for Kol. They'll remember it when all this starts."

"So this is the calm before the storm?"

"Unless Kol was right. Then it's not just going to be a storm. It'll be an apocalypse."

She hesitantly shifted to face me. I looked back at her, all sadness and longing. I wanted to kiss her. I wanted everything. But I couldn't have it. I stayed still. For now, all I could do was look at her and wish.

Then she hugged me.

I waited for a dagger or needle full of vervain to pierce me in the back, but it never came. She was just hugging me. Hugging the monster that bit her last night. The worst person in the world.

Hesitantly, I reached around her and held her close, one hand finding her hair. I let my fingers get lost in it again.

With her face buried in my chest and my chin on her head, I mouthed the words I couldn't say out loud. The words I wondered if I'd ever get a chance to really say.

_I love you. _


	3. I thought it was mine

**"I thought it was mine" A oneshot that takes place after episode 420. Klaus finds out something shocking about Hayley's pregnancy. Caroline ends up in New Orleans. **

**I love reviews! **

* * *

Caroline had moved on in every other way.

She was living in Miami, off campus in a nice apartment, taking classes at the U. Bonnie and Stefan had both visited her a few times, and she talked to her mom on the phone every week.

It was the natural order of things. She did what many other girls did after they did everything there was to do in their small home town. She went to college in a city, made new friends and learned new things. She was still undecided on a major, or if she even wanted to stay there. Maybe she would take some time off and travel, see the world alone. She had been learning how to be alone for the past year.

The Mystic Falls group dissolved after graduation, the way many groups of high school friends do. Matt stayed in town. Rebekah fond another small town and attempted to start over. She was playing the part of a high school junior and climbing the social ladder of high school while her brothers ran off to New Orleans. Elena blew away with the wind, with both Salvatores chasing her. Last Caroline heard, she still had her humanity off. The guys thought they had gotten her back once or twice, but the initial rush of emotions made her slam the door back shut.

Bonnie was off at some earthy liberal arts school up in Washington state. She was studying something with plants and doing really well. Almost too well. All her professors talked about how she would be the biggest name of her generation.

Caroline had seen Tyler twice since prom. There was a system in place. He would compel a human to deliver a time and place to Matt. Only to Matt. Matt would pass the message on to Bonnie, who would send it in some witchy encryption to Caroline.

The first time Caroline saw him, they pounced on each other, unable to keep their hands off each other, making up for all the time and distance. But it didn't feel right. They weren't who they were in high school. Somehow, in the time apart, they had grown apart. They agreed they would go their separate ways, but meet back again in six months, to discuss the possibility of being friends and staying in touch. After all, they had an eternity ahead of them. At least as long as Klaus didn't decided to make good on his threat to Tyler's life.

Klaus. He was always in her thoughts. He was the epic romance that never started, the one thing she would look back on with regret, even if she would never admit it out loud.

He _loved_ her. And he never had a reason to. She wasn't nice to him. She was the enemy. She had vowed to be part of his undoing. And yet he still kept trying. She would find herself staring at the bracelet she always wore, secretly hoping it was spelled so he would be able to find her. It wasn't. He never came. He finally backed off and left her alone, just as she asked.

_Be careful what you wish for_, she thought wistfully.

Caroline was packing her bag for class when she caught sight of a crumpled grey sweatshirt on her living room floor. Tyler had worn it, hood up and sunglasses on as he walked in her apartment.

"You look like the freaking unibomber." she had said. "Take that off, it's ninety seven degrees outside."

He made some grumbly comment about not wanting to be spotted by Klaus' spies. She made a comment back about how Klaus wasn't bothering her anymore, unable to disguise the hint of wistfulness in her voice. Tyler had given her a look that was hard to read, and awkwardly changed the subject. He looked like he knew something, but didn't want to tell her. She asked if anyone new was in his life, if he was dating, but he just shook his head and laughed.

Now Caroline wondered what to do with the sweatshirt. If it was last year, she would have breathed in the smell of him on it, slept wearing it, cuddled it while she sat on the couch. Now she just felt nothing. She didn't want to burn or throw away the reminder of him. She was just, quite simply, over it.

She shook it out and folded it up and a small paper fluttered out of the pocket. An address. Caroline couldn't help it. She went straight to her computer and googled it. New Orleans. French Quarter.

She felt cold panic snake through her body. Tyler had left town before Klaus and Elijah went to New Orleans. He didn't know they were there.

Caroline turned the sweatshirt over in her hands and noticed something catch the sunlight. She pulled two long brown hairs off the shirt.

* * *

Elijah followed the baby's cries. They echoed through the night, leading him down the street to Hayley's townhouse. Klaus had finally come to his senses and stepped up. He made sure Hayley and the baby were protected, well taken care of, and respected by the supernatural community. Things with Marcel were rocky at first, but for the time being they had agreed to a truce of sorts. No matter how much the two men squabbled, Klaus and Marcel would always team up if there was a bigger threat. And the wave of witches they took out had been a threat indeed. When Klaus decided to acknowledge the child, the choice was clear. He could team up with the witches that wanted to use his baby's magic to take down Marcel, or he could band together with him and take down the witches. Whatever they wanted his spawn for, it would only be a matter of time before the witches turned on him as well. So for now they worked together; Klaus, Marcel and Elijah running the city, and Hayley and the baby were safe.

It didn't mean that Klaus considered either of them family. He say Hayley as an annoyance, someone he never thought he'd have to deal with again, and he begrudgingly tolerated for the sake of their shared interest. The baby.

It was a girl. She looked nothing like him. Dark hair, big eyes. All Hayley. Cecilia was her name. It was a name that had a lot of history in New Orleans, and Klaus hardly grunted an approval when Hayley had cautiously suggested it.

Elijah watched his brother and the baby in the six months since she had been born. He feared the worst and hoped for a miracle. Reality was somewhere in the middle. Klaus all but ignored Hayley and begrudgingly agreed to occasionally spend time with his daughter.

It was an unusual moment of clarity and vulnerability, the day Cecilia was born. Klaus had pulled Elijah into an empty room.

"Don't leave me alone with her. If I'm to spend time with her, you stay in the room. Promise me, Elijah."

"Who, Hayley? You don't have be around her if you don't want to. She and you have both made your feelings clear on that subject." Elijah said.

"No, not Hayley. Her. Don't let me be alone with her."

Elijah had kept his promise. The first time Hayley left Cecilia with the Mikaelsons for a weekend, Klaus stayed within a step of Elijah, but insisted his brother was the one to hold the baby most of the time. Elijah sat in a rocking chair, holding the baby, while Klaus sat on a chair on the other side of the room, eyes wide, fists clenched. He would avoid any chance to touch her.

Rebekah started showing up every time it was Klaus' turn to watch Cecilia. She would take turns with Elijah, playing with the baby, caring for her. Klaus just watched, always tense with fear.

Elijah had caught Klaus smile only once. It was the first time Cecilia laughed. He quickly snapped back into his apprehensive, nervous glare. Klaus denied feeling anything. But he was slowly warming up to the baby. He even once allowed Elijah to answer the door when food arrived, leaving him alone holding Cecila. The three minutes Elijah was out of the room were the longest Klaus had ever been alone with his daughter. When Elijah came back, Klaus was sweating bullets and shaking so hard the baby was giggling from the motion.

Elijah wanted to ask Klaus what he was more afraid of, hurting the baby or loving it. But he knew his brother well enough to know he would never answer.

Now it was months since the only three minutes Klaus had ever allowed Elijah to leave him alone with Cecilia, and Elijah had gotten a rather confusing phone call. Klaus was panicked, he said he was at Hayley's townhouse and he needed Elijah to get there immediately.

Elijah followed the cries. He reached the front door and it was then that he smelled the blood.

* * *

Caroline raced down the cobblestone street, the toe of her shoe wedging between the stones and sending her flying forward.

A hand darted out and caught her before she hit the pavement.

"Whoa there, careful." he said.

She jolted back and looked at the amused man smiling back at her. He looked like someone who could be relaxed through an earthquake. And she knew he wasn't anywhere near her when she started to trip. So he was a vampire, and he didn't care who knew it.

She saw a few people who had previously been sitting around slowly stand up and face them. They were watching. He was someone important.

The crumpled address was in his hand before she knew he had reached for it.

"What are you doing with this?" he asked.

"I... I..." she stumbled.

He leaned in.

"No racing heartbeat. You're a vampire. Why would you possibly be going to this house? With what she could do to you?"

"You know who lives there?"

"Know well enough to be in a permanent state of annoyed with the big one, but shit, the little one makes up for it, you know?"

"Sorry?"

"Klaus's girls. It's their house you're going to."

""Klaus?" she gasped.

"So you do know him." he smirked. "Interesting. But you don't seem to know me."

"Should I?" she asked.

"Marcel." he said. "How do you know Klaus?"

She struggled to find an answer.

"You said, his girls?" she asked. She was picturing some kind of harem, several women fawning over him.

"Yeah, loud, screaming ladies, the both of them. Especially the little one. Always waking up the whole neighborhood at all hours of the night. But, you know. They're his girls. And no one's going to lay a finger on them as long as they're under his protection. You know, just in think you were planning on making a move."

"I wasn't." Caroline stammered. Her head was spinning. Klaus had certainly wasted no time moving on. Two girlfriends. But why did Tyler have their address?

"Two blocks and then make a left turn." Marcel said. "And if you're causing any trouble with Klaus's people, I'll hear about it. This is my city."

Caroline nodded and started to turn away.

"Who are you, anyway?" he asked.

"I'm just... My name is Caroline."

He smiled like he had just snapped the last piece into a puzzle.

"I look forward to seeing you again Caroline." he said.

Before she had a chance to respond, he was gone.

* * *

Elijah stepped into the townhouse, closing the door behind him. The scent of blood was overwhelming, but it wasn't human.

He followed the baby's cries up the steps.

"Niklaus, It's me. What's going on?"

Elijah turned a corner and saw the body on the floor.

Tyler Lockwood.

Or at least the top half of Tyler Lockwood, minus his heart. Elijah found the heart on the other side of the room, a trail of guts leading to the legs that had made it somehow into the nursery. Hayley's head was on the carpet, her heart three feet away from where the rest of her body lied pooled in blood.

Elijah paused to take it all in. Why had the Lockwood boy come here? What did it all mean?

Elijah found Klaus in the bathroom, sitting on the cold tile floor, covered in blood. Cecilia was in the bathtub, surrounded by pillows, unharmed except the bloody handprints on her dress from where Klaus had picked her up.

Elijah picked up the baby and held her close. Her crying stopped instantly.

Klaus was rocking back and forth on the floor, eyes red with tears.

"I thought it was mine." Klaus said.

Elijah pulled out his phone and texted Rebekah, demanding she get there instantly. This was worse than he could have imagined.

"What do you mean?" Elijah said.

"I thought it, I mean she, I thought she was mine."

"Niklaus?"

"You always said I would turn into Mikael." Klaus laughed bitterly.

"But, the witches. We were certain. Cecilia could only happen if her father was a hybrid."

"He was." Klaus said. "It was all a trick. She was playing me, She knew it was him. I came in, and I heard him in here. She called him it- she called him Cecilia's father."

"But why?" Elijah asked. "Why would they go through the trouble of it all?"

"I don't know." Klaus said. "To hurt me, to make a mockery of me, forcing my hand, making me care for the child as if she were mine, and waiting for the moment to broadcast to the world that I fell for it."

"I'm taking her out of here." Elijah said, cradling Cecilia closer to him.

"If I was going to do it, I would have done it already." Klaus said, glaring at his brother.

"I didn't accuse you."

"You thought it. You thought I was going to kill her. The baby. Because I'm heartless and cruel."

"No. I thought you were going to kill her because you still love her and it scares you."

"I most certainly do not." Klaus scoffed.

"I'm taking her to Rebekah." Elijah said. "She'll be more than happy to take care of her, for as long as you need."

"What could Rebekah possibly get out of caring for Tyler Lockwood's spawn?" Klaus scoffed.

"If your pride is all you can think of, no one ever has to know." Elijah said. "All of New Orleans sees her as your daughter. There's no need to tell them any different."

"I suppose this will be Bekah's chance to play at human after all." Klaus said.

Elijah nodded and turned to leave.

"The bodies." Klaus said. "I don't want it to - I don't want Cecilia to see the bodies."

"Will you be alright with her for a little while so I can get rid of them?" Elijah asked, preparing to hang the baby to Klaus.

Klaus nodded, sitting on his hands. He nodded to the bathtub that had been stuffed with pillows.

Elijah put the baby down carefully and watched his brother try to control the shaking that came whenever he was close to the baby. As if she was the most terrifying thing he had ever experienced.

"You never loved her, did you? Hayley?" Elijah asked.

Klaus looked confused. "Of course not." he laughed. "And you know, for all her games, all the pretending, the set up to make it seem like the baby was mine, she never pretended to love me either. Or to even like me. I guess that would be too far fetched."

Elijah considered some words of encouragement, but found very little.

"Well she's gone now. And this baby belongs to our family. Cecilia could have some powerful magic as she grows. And now she'll grow up as one of us, without any influence from her birth mother."

"Or birth father." Klaus scoffed.

"You can still be her father." Elijah said. "This doesn't have to change that."

"You were always better at it anyway."

"When you're ready, all you have to do is go to Bekah. Cecilia will be waiting for you."

Klaus felt sweat pour down the back of his neck as Elijah left the room to clear away the bodies. Cecilia was sitting up in the tub, reaching out her tiny hand to him, giggling.

"Da, Da, da." she chortled.

Klaus tasted the blood he had swallowed come back up and he heaved red splatter into the toilet.

He staggered back to the sink to rinse his mouth, and caught Cecilia trying to climb out of the tub. His arm flashed towards her, pulling back just before he touched her, always so aware of how impossible fragile she was, how easy it would be to hurt her.

He rested his head on the cold porcelain edge of the tub, looking in at her. She kept giggling at him.

"Da, da, da." Cecilia gurgled.

New tears fell down his face as he tried to remind himself he never wanted this anyway.

Her tiny hand reached up and smacked the top of his head, little fists pulling at his blood matted hair, coming back red, smeared with the blood of her parents. Her true birth parents, whom he just slaughtered.

Elijah came up behind him and picked up the baby.

"I'm going to take her to Bekah now." Elijah said. "She's still your child, Niklaus. You take all the time you need, but not too much. Human life is so fleeting."

"She's not mine. She never was. They tricked me."

"Grow up, Niklaus. It's time to swallow your pride and deal with this. You just made it so you're the only parent the girl has left. Don't you dare try to put her aside. That would make you the one thing you hate most."

"I'm just like Mikael." Klaus whispered.

"You're not." Elijah said. "You're not, because you still remember it. You won't do the same."

"I'm afraid I'll do worse. I could kill her, so easily."

"I'm taking her to Bekah's now. She'll be safe."

Klaus nodded and blinked back tears.

"I'm leaving now." Elijah said. "But Marcel intercepted someone coming towards this house. They weren't expecting you here, but he let them pass."

"If anyone steps foot in this place I'll sever their spine." Klaus said.

Elijah cradled the baby closer and bent down to look at his brother.

"I know, there are things we don't talk about. I know we have a history and I didn't always do what I should have for you. I'll never be able to right what I stood passively by and watched Mikael do. But listen to me, brother. You are not beyond saving. But it won't be me that gets through to you. Not after the centuries we spent stabbing each other in the back. I hoped you would move on from her, find someone who returned your feelings, but it seems like she was the only exception to your rule. Somehow you felt something for her. And I hoped there would be a day where she would feel it too. So you could understand the worth of the thing, to break you out of your hollow life. But she floated away and you kept drawing the same face over and over."

Klaus glared at him.

"I can't take any more lies today, Elijah."

"It's not a lie. She's here. I don't understand why, but she's here."

Klaus flashed an arm out, reaching Elijah's wrist.

"Don't. Don't let her in, don't let her see me like this. I don't want her to know. She hates me enough as it is, if she sees this... I'm disgusting. Don't let her in here. "

Elijah pried his grip away and stepped out of the room.

"Oh, Niklaus. There is so much you don't understand."

In an instant, Elijah and the baby were gone.

* * *

Caroline knew she wasn't alone. It was a vampire thing, to be so aware of your surroundings. She saw the smears of blood left behind what had been hastily cleaned up. She already knew. There was no way Tyler could run straight into the home of Klaus' girlfriends and live.

She walked upstairs and found Klaus sitting on the bathroom floor, rocking back and forth. He was matted with blood. Smears of blood marred the floor and the pile of pillows in the bathtub. She didn't even want to know what he and his two girlfriends used those for.

He looked up at her, hurt, relieved, ashamed.

"If you've come to beg for your boyfriend's life, I'm afraid it's too late."

Caroline swallowed. She had known this would happen eventually.

"Actually, he isn't my boyfriend anymore. Hasn't been for a while."

She looked around at the smears of blood on everything Klaus touched.

"Why did he come here?" she asked. "Did he know you were here?"

Klaus laughed. It was a hollow, eerie laugh.

"He came to spend some time with his daughter, I assume."

"His what?"

Klaus exhaled, a tiny relief.

"You didn't know? You weren't part of this?"

"Tyler has a... no, I wasn't part of... what's going on?"

Klaus told her the whole story before he could stop himself. He sat on the cold tile floor and spilled his guilty guts to her, confessing the one night stand with Hayley, the baby, and how he had come by unexpectedly to drop off Cecilia's favorite toy and caught a very private conversation between Tyler Lockwood and Hayley. A conversation that ended with him tearing both of them to pieces.

"And now you'll hate me forever, if you didn't already." he said.

Caroline tilted her head. She was still sifting through all the lies Tyler had told her, all the ways he had avoided any possible mention of what was going on. He wasn't just plotting some takeover with Hayley. He had a child with her, and he send her into the lion's den, convincing Klaus it was his baby.

It didn't take long to do the math. If Tyler was the baby's father, it had happened while she was still with him. So her neurotic, ridiculous worries about Hayley weren't so unfounded after all.

"That man said your girls lived here. Two of them." She said. "I thought they were your girlfriends."

"People around here referred to Hayley as mine, just because she was the baby's mother. It was a simple distinction that made it clear she wasn't to be harmed. But there was never a time... Caroline, it was just the once. She was never my girlfriend. No that it matters to you anyway."

"I... I didn't come here for you. I came because I wanted to help Tyler." she said.

His hands curled into fists.

"I never thought I could hate someone as much as I hated Mikael. But Tyler, I think I hated just as much."

"I don't understand this." she said. "I don't get why he and Hayley did this to you."

Klaus laughed. "Because in your mind, it's always Tyler the hero and me the villain. I'm evil. He's just trying to be a hero, right? Flaunting it all, provoking me, using you as a shield."

"What are you talking about?"

"Do you have any idea how much it hurt? To watch him use you as human armor? To be able to do nothing about it?"

"He didn't..."

"You loved that stupid boy so much you couldn't see it. He didn't love you the way you deserved. He was with her, Hayley, but he wouldn't break up with you, because he knew you were my weakness. So he would provoke me and then hide behind you, knowing I couldn't hurt him without losing any chance with you."

"Klaus, you were the one trying to kill him."

"He took the only family I could trust and he destroyed it. He unsired my hybrids. He took away what I spent a thousand years hunting for. You never heard the way he spoke, the way he flaunted what he had and he knew I wanted. He was my first hybrid, I let him in too much, I let him know me, and he used it. He saw the things I wanted and made a show of flaunting how he had them and I didn't. Family. Friends. You. Can you honestly say you never noticed how he pulled you closer when I was around? How he suddenly became more invested in your group of friends once I posed a threat?"

"And then you ran him out of town and promised to kill him if you ever found him."

Klaus laughed. "Do you think, for one instant, that he believed me?"

"He ran, didn't he?"

"Yes, probably straight to her. And he came back, knowing I would be watching."

"What? How could you..."

"How could I what? See him, with you? See him dancing with you, touching you, when you were wearing the dress I gave you, the bracelet I gave you? Of course I saw. And he knew I was watching."

Caroline sorted through the memory and felt sick. Tyler was putting on a show, making her love him more so he could use her as protection. When he snuck into town for a few moments with her, he was playing a game. Hayley was out there somewhere, already pregnant with his child.

"He had everything I wanted." Klaus said. "Everything. And now this. I thought it was mine. I thought I had something."

Caroline couldn't find words. She just sat on the floor next to him.

"Well, go on." Klaus said. "Why don't you go back to your Mystic Falls friends and tell them the news. The big bad hybrid struck again, time to retaliate. And while you're at it, feel free to spread the story of my shame. How Tyler Lockwood tricked me into thinking I had a child. How he fooled me into loving his baby."

"You love the baby?" she asked.

"I didn't say-"

"You did."

"It doesn't matter. She wasn't mine. It was a foolish thing to feel."

Caroline carefully reached out and took his hand. His palms were cut open and bleeding from where he dug his fingernails into his own skin from clenching his fists.

"This might be it." he said. "You and your friend, looking for the perfect time to attack. I'm weak. If you lot try to get me today, you might actually figure it out. By this time tomorrow I could be desiccating in a box, at the bottom of the ocean."

"We're not really friends anymore. And I'm not here to attack you."

He didn't react to her words, and continued his train of thought as if she had said nothing.

"Since you're always going to hate me anyway, and you can't possibly think any lower of me, I'll tell you the worst of it. After all, someone should know the truth. I thought that baby was my chance to be loved. That maybe she would love me, because children always love their parents. Even the worst parents."

"You loved Mikael?"

"As a child, all I wanted was for him to love me back, to treat me like the others, for my mother to love me enough to protect me. For my siblings to love me enough to take my side."

"I always thought you hated your family."

"It turned into that over the centuries. But love and hate, two sides of the same coin. And it had been so long since I have loved anyone or anything. But you knew I loved you before I was ready to admit it to myself."

She looked down, guilty. She remembered it well, using his feeling for her to save her own skin. She never stopped to think about how monumental it was for him to love her after spending so much time loving nothing.

"I remembered what it was to love someone, and what it felt like for it to not be returned" he said. "But with this baby, I had hope. Foolish hope that she might actually love me. If I tried very hard not to be myself, If I was careful, maybe she could."

He wiped away tears, then hesitantly looked at her, embarrassed that she saw him crying. He tried to compose himself, but he felt beyond repair. He was mourning. A glimmer of hope in a thousand years and it had been snuffed out.

"Please just go away." he said quietly.

Caroline ignored him and pulled the pillows out of the bathtub. She plugged the drain and turned on the faucet, checking the temperature.

"What are you doing?" he asked, keeping his eyes on the floor.

She ignored him and looked through the linen closet for some small towels. She wet one in the tub as it filled and sat on the floor next to him.

"Klaus." she said.

He kept his eyes down. It was an old world gesture of shame and remorse that had somehow stuck with him over the years.

"Klaus, look at me."

He felt like his head was too heavy to lift, and he didn't fight her when she tilted his chin up.

She took the wet cloth and started wiping the blood and tears off his face, starting around his eyes and working outward.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"You need to get cleaned up."

"Just leave." he said weakly.

"No." she snipped.

"Why are you being nice to me? You should hate me."

She didn't answer his question. Instead she had one of her own.

"Why didn't you ever look for me?" she asked. "It's been a year, at least."

"438 days." he said quietly.

"Oh."

"I never looked for you, because I thought you didn't want me to. And because, with all that was going on here, I figured you would never want anything to do with me. The indiscretion with the wolf girl, the baby."

She turned off the water as the tub had almost filled. She stood up and offered him her hand. He took it and cautiously stood as well.

She stepped into the tub fully clothed, and motioned for him to join her. With no energy left to fight her on it, he stepped in and sunk down into the warm water. It turned red instantly as the blood floated off his skin and clothing.

She moved close to him and picked up one of the little towels, dabbing it in the water before reaching behind his ears, wiping off dried blood. He saw the light reflect off something on her wrist. It was the bracelet he had given her. She was wearing it.

The awful, gut wrenching hope of it destroyed him. It snapped him out of his stupor and made him finally realize that she was here. Caroline was here, and she had walked through the blood streaked rooms of where he had killed Tyler Lockwood and Hayley. She had listened to him tell of his foolish night with the wolf girl, of the child. She sat on the bathroom floor and listened to him spew every emotion he ever had. And now she was in the dirty water with him, wiping away blood.

He grabbed her around the waist and pulled her in close.

"I'm sorry." he whispered, the words sounding so foreign in his own voice. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

Caroline curled closer to him, letting the red water splash around them and fall over the side of the tub.

"I shouldn't have waited so long." she said. "And when I walked in here, I didn't think it would be you. But I'm glad it was."

He looked back at her, confused.

She wiped away a few tears.

When had she started crying too?

"It's just... I couldn't, back in Mystic Falls. I would lose everyone. But I lost most of them anyway. And... I'm still only 19. I make mistakes, I don't know what I'm doing. And I'm never going to live up to whatever idea of me you have in your mind."

She wiped away more tears that kept falling.

"But when I moved away I put on this bracelet and I never took it off. I had this stupid hope that you would use it to find me. That you would show up. And I know now, I spent so long pushing you away, why would you try to find me? But I hoped, secretly. Because then it wouldn't be me looking for you. And maybe I could justify it, somehow. But you never found me."

"I thought you didn't want me to." he said.

"I didn't want it to have to be my choice, because I'm scared. You scare me sometimes. What you can do scares me. But now everyone else just bores me, and I think of you all the time, and hope that you'll come bursting in and there'll be some new plan, some ordeal that forces me to be with you, because then I could have what I want, and I wouldn't have to admit that I want to be with you. But now I'm ready to make the choice for myself."

"Caroline?" he said hesitantly.

"I want you to ask me again. That thing, that offer you've had. The thing you say. Ask me now, and I promise you'll never have to ask it again."

He took a deep breath, afraid to say it. Afraid of getting what he wanted for once.

"Caroline, I want to show you the world, I want to take you to see all of it, all the beauty it has to offer. Will you let me?"

"Yes." she smiled. "I'll go wherever you want to take me. Starting right now if you want."

He pulled her in and kissed her before he could stop himself. Her hand landed on his shoulder and he quickly pulled away, unsure if she had wanted it, wondering if he just got in his own way again and ruined things.

He looked back at her, trying to find a sign.

She smiled, that bright smile he had fallen in love with already, and she leaned back in, finding his lips with hers.

His arms moved around her and held her close, feeling her press against him as they found a balance between playful and sensual. He could feel her smile as she alternated between long soft kisses and quicker ones. She broke away and trailed her lips down the side of his neck, pausing at the pulse point below his ear. Promises spouted from his mouth without thought. This girl would be the death of him.

He nudged her to break away, only so he could mimic her motions, kissing down the side of her neck, pausing to taste and breathe her in. His head was spinning. She was breathing faster, her hands pulling him in closer. He was afraid to stop, because this could be it. This was too good to last, whatever happiness he had in this moment would certainly be ripped away instantly. It always was.

She shivered and he realized the murky water they were in had turned cold. He sighed and took a moment, tracing his thumb down the side of her face, before helping her up and getting them out of the tub.

Klaus wrapped a towel around her and grabbed another to dry himself off.

"So you want to see the world. What better place to start than New Orleans?" he said. "What do you want to see first?"

"I'm kind of hungry." she suggested.

He smirked. "You've come to the right place. How do you feel about gumbo?"

"Never had it."

"We're going to have to do something about that."

He walked her down the steps to the front door, hoping the blood splattered apartment wouldn't snap her back to her senses and send her running away. To his surprise, she ignored it all and looked at him the whole walk to the front door.

"Now, we'll run to my place first, I have some clothes of Bekah's you can wear until we get a chance to buy you things of your own. Are you tired? There are so many places I want you to see, but if you're too tired, we can just send for the food to be delivered."

"Let's go out." she said. "I want to start seeing all the places you talked about."

"People around here talk, sweetheart. If they see you with me, the whole supernatural community will be whispering about it."

"Let them talk." she smiled.

"It could get back to your people." he said. "Are you sure you want Stefan, Elena, all of them knowing you were spotted with me?"

"They won't be happy, but I think they all knew better than me, that this was a long time coming."

He kissed the side of her head and opened the front door.

There was a man standing on the porch. Caroline looked back at the vampire she had run into earlier.

"I had a feeling I'd be seeing you again." Marcel said to her. He turned to Klaus. "Niklaus. Elijah told me the basics. We're sending twenty vampires out to guard your sister and the baby. Four of them have daylight rings. The rest are staying here in case you need back up."

Klaus nodded stiffly, still uncomfortable with the topic of the baby.

Marcel scanned the two of them, then dug through his pockets for something.

"Right. Why don't you take my car? I'm staying on this side of town all night anyway, Cami's working until dawn and I don't like the looks of some of the new customers. I'll catch up with you soon to talk strategy."

Klaus took the keys and nodded his thanks.

"Oh, Caroline." Klaus said. "Have you met the King of New Orleans? Marcel, this is Caroline."

"What's a King to a God?" Marcel joked, playfully slapping Klaus on the shoulder. "It's nice to finally meet you Caroline. I've heard a lot about you."

Klaus gave his best don't-you-dare-embarrass-me look to him and Marcel chuckled, hopping down the steps.

"Alright, I get it." Marcel laughed. "Like I said, Cami's bar until dawn if you need me. And I hope you like it here, Caroline."

"What makes you think I'm staying?" she challenged.

"How could you not?" Marcel smiled.

Marcel wove down the street in one direction, and Klaus took Caroline's hand and led her the opposite way. She could hear a brass band playing in the distance, and smelled something spicy wafting through the air. Klaus wrapped an around her and led her to the car. Caroline looked around, then back up at the Hybrid by her side, and thought Marcel had no idea just how right he was.


End file.
